Love, Gilda Filmmaker Goldsmith Among Special Guests at 2018 NHFF

Love, Gilda — a documentary about Gilda Radner, the beloved original Saturday Night Live cast member who died at age 42 in 1989 after a long battle with ovarian cancer — is actually a labor of love for Meryl Goldsmith, an NHFF alumna.

Goldsmith, a producer and executive producer on the film, will be returning to this year’s New Hampshire Film Festival to screen and discuss Love, Gilda, a Magnolia Pictures release that was produced and directed by Lisa D’Apolito.

Goldsmith’s family was close to the Radner family, but “I never got to know Gilda because she passed when I was young,” she said in an interview with WWJ radio. “I feel like through this film, I was finally able to really get to know her, and I’m so grateful for that, and I think audiences will be, too.”

The documentary weaves together recently discovered audiotapes, interviews with friends, rare home movies and diaries read by modern-day comediennes who were inspired by Gilda to offer “a unique window into the honest and whimsical world” of the comedy superstar, according to the description on Goldsmith’s website.

The never-before-seen-or-heard footage and journal entries form the narrative spine of the documentary, allowing Gilda to tell her own story – through laughter and sometimes tears.

Goldsmith’s connection to NHFF dates to 2014 when the festival screened Syndrome, a documentary about Shaken Baby Syndrome that she directed and co-produced.

You can see Love, Gilda and attend a Q&A with Goldsmith on Saturday, October 13 at 5:30 p.m. at The Music Hall.